Getting the Message

Recently I stepped outside my office and something odd happened. I was walking down some steps and I saw something falling. It was small and light, almost floating, but I put out my hand and it landed right smack dab in the middle. It was a feather. Two in fact. Small, beautiful, brown-striped feathers.

Sure, having feathers fall literally into my hand is what some might call a lucky happenstance. Now consider where I was when this happened. I work for a digital marketing company, what some might call my muggle job, and it has offices in cities across the globe – not rural communities surrounded by fields or small forests. I work in Chicago, in The Loop (which for those who don’t know is smack dab in the middle of downtown). 

So to have these feathers randomly fall into my hands seems less like luck and more like something purposeful.

Now I’ll add one more piece of interesting information. Lately I’ve felt pretty stuck, especially where my job is concerned. There are many reasons for it, but I’d decided that part of my problem was that I was letting this job take me away from what I really want to do with my life – but I also knew that dropping out of society, living in the mountains and becoming the next Radagast wasn’t a realistic option for a guy with a wife, two daughters, a dog, two fish and a crustacean living in the suburbs of Chicago. So instead, I decided to revisit some of my spiritual practices – first and foremost being to ask for help. By help I mean direction and by asking I mean asking Spirit (to me this covers all denominations and non-denominations). For me, the concept of a higher power is most notably present in nature – so this is typically where I turn for spiritual guidance. 

Then the feathers “appear” seemingly from nowhere. Interesting, no?

I’ve learned through my nearly 45 years on this planet that the experiences we have are what we make of them. Others may slough off these feathers as merely an interesting occurrence or at most a happy coincidence. I really can’t. It’s not who I am. I have in me too much of that child-like wonder and hope for life to be more special than that. I instead take this as an answer – one that tells me I’m heading in the right direction, and there’s more to come in the days ahead. It’s a reinforcement that life is special if we only pay attention. Ultimately, it’s that where I am is where I need to be, for now.

My question for you, though, is what’s special in your life? Are you paying attention? It can make all the difference.

Use the Right Intention to Start off the New Year

So now with Step 1, home maintenance, and Step 2, clutter clearing (starting small), under our belts, it’s time to focus on Step 3 of how to start the year off right. In truth, I often tell  people to start with this step but I also have found that this is the one people can have the hardest time with defining.

It’s about your intention. In my school of feng shui, Instinctive Feng Shui™, we have a mantra shared with us by our teacher and school founder Denise Linn. (My school is Interior Alignment®, which includes studies in feng shui and space clearing.) The mantra goes like this: “where intention goes, energy flows.” Simple enough, but you may be asking yourself, what does that mean?

It means that as we focus on the things we want in our lives, we will build energy toward achieving those goals, and in fact attract more energy to achieving those goals. From a psychological perspective, it makes perfect sense. If we stay focused on our wants and desires, all while taking action toward them, we will be better able to achieve those goals.

In Feng Shui, energy in your home
should flow like a meandering river
(image courtesy of www.123rf.com)

In Feng Shui, we think of it on an energetic level because we know that by working with the energy or chi in our homes, we can better support achieving those goals or intentions in our lives. In the simplest terms, we support this by making sure there is a good flow of energy in the home (consider how easy it is to walk through your home and walk into every room) and make sure that everything in our home makes us feel good (creating positive, supportive energy).

OK, so let’s think about intention. Start by asking yourself what you want out of this New Year. Are you striving for a new job? Or maybe just more money? Perhaps this is the year to find the love of your life? Do you want to start a family? Travel to exotic places? Maybe you’re just looking for life to settle down a bit for you?

There is no wrong intention. The most important thing is to just be honest about what it is you would like – no judgment, just accept it. Once you have this, you need to take it one step deeper. Consider not just what you want, but what it will feel like to actually achieve. This is critical. You need to be able to truly get a sense for this feeling. Take a moment to imagine yourself having reached your goal. What is it like? Are you excited? Filled with joy? Satisfied? Confident? Secure? Loved? That feeling is where the “magic” is. THAT is what makes all the difference. Feel it, own it, and hold on to that feeling more than anything else. Now let go of any expectations for HOW you will achieve it.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. We often throw up road blocks of doubt and insecurity. But if you use your intention, and more importantly the feeling behind it, as a regular reminder for your own happiness, you can knock those self-imposed blockades out of the way.

So with your intention in hand, now you can create your own Feng Shui enhancement in your space to help you stay focused on your intention. For instance, if you want to travel because it makes you feel alive and free, you can focus on the travel space in your home (every home has one, as does every room), and put up pictures of where you want to go or, even better, a representation of how it would make you feel (e.g., simply hanging the word freedom in the room).

You also can use this intention as you focus on Steps 1 and 2. Changing a light bulb? As you replace it, be thinking about attracting more “ideas” around achieving your intention. Clearing out a junk drawer? As you create order, know that it is allowing you to get more organized and prepared for making your intention a reality. Since Steps 1 and 2 are ongoing efforts throughout the year, you are creating opportunities all the time to reinforce your intention.

There you have it. Three simple steps for starting your year off right – and such good timing – not only have you just gotten through the first month of the Western calendar year but the Chinese New Year just kicked off on Friday, Jan. 31^st.

And as always, if you have questions, feel free to reach out to me. 

Declutter Your Way to a Great New Year

In my last blog, I shared some very practical things that you could do to start the year off right. We talked about fixing the things that need to be fixed in your home and the feng shui significance of making these fixes, even something as simple as changing a light bulb. It was step one of a process I recommend for starting your year off right with feng shui – with no regrets.

Step 2 in this process is clutter clearing. Many in feng shui refer to clutter clearing as modern day alchemy because not only do you feel lighter and generally better after removing clutter but because it becomes a catalyst for bringing new energy and new opportunities in your life.

Before we get into the “magic” of clutter clearing though, we need to define it a bit first. There are obvious examples, such as piles of clothes in a bedroom, the unpacked boxes in the basement or the stacks of paper on your desk. Then there are the less obvious like the collectibles you have on your dresser, the multitude of books on your shelves that you’ll never read again and even all the electronic files on your computer that need to be organized.

Clutter becomes a block for the energy or chi flowing through your home, and not only that but it tends to attract more of the same. You know what I mean if you’ve ever seen the piles of papers seem to grow exponentially on your desk, or a basement that has become over run with boxes of old, unused items that will never see the light of day again.

Everyone has clutter. It’s part of our nature to collect things, but we have seen this go to the extreme in the past several years where hoarding has become the focus of national television shows. Most of us fall somewhere in between the need for psychological help and the pristine Zen clutter-free home that some consider the ideal.

So where to begin? Are you having visions of sorting through boxes filled to the brim with old toys, old files, old dishes or nowadays even just a pile of old electronics? Before you begin to panic, don’t. While those all can be addressed at some point, I wanted to make this three-step process doable, manageable and with no regrets. It’s the New Year after all. So, start small.

I don’t mean single room small or even closet small. I’m talking dresser drawer small, junk drawer small, even car glove compartment small. Or in my case recently – backpack small.

That’s right, I received a new backpack recently that was a gift from a non-profit organization that focuses on educating kids about the environment (the Rob Machado Foundation – check it out). My old backpack was just that, old. Still in good working condition, but I felt I needed a change. So in went my laptop, headphones, wifi-hotspot, various chargers, my personal calendar, my notebook, my ipad, pens, various papers, etc. At first it felt good to have this new backpack with its shiny, clean exterior but as time wore on, I realized I missed all the pockets in my old backpack (this one had one big one and one small one).

I was never sure where my stuff was inside, and it stressed me out to have to go digging through my bag every time I wanted anything from it. 

Finally I broke down and switched back – placing the laptop in its sleeve, along with my ipad and personal calendar, there was a place just for my cords, another for my smaller devices another for all my pens, keys and receipts in need of expensing. Plus there was an extra completely empty pocket that I could fill with snacks or anything else I wanted. I have to admit, I felt a real sense of relief knowing exactly where everything was in my bag so I could quickly and easily get what I needed when I needed it. So maybe this is a sign of my own level of OCD, but frankly that doesn’t matter. I felt better. That’s what matters.

So where would you start? A sock drawer (I recently ditched several old socks that had holes worn through them) or maybe a desk drawer or consider something a little more daunting like the junk drawer – (I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t have one of these).

Once you’ve identified your focus, make sure you can address it in a single sitting. It may be a small space, but you will still feel great afterward and even motivated to tackle another small project (another clothes drawer perhaps or maybe a file drawer in your office).

Each time you do this, you’ll make a positive impact on how you feel about your home, and from a feng shui perspective open doors for additional opportunities in many aspects of your life. Each change may seem small but they truly can have a big impact. 

Start the New Year without Regret

The New Year brings with it a host of new things – new hopes, new dreams, new resolutions – especially as we look back and consider what we’d like to achieve in the days ahead. Often though, we beat ourselves up for not achieving our goals soon after setting them, which just makes it that much more difficult to achieve them. (This is why I typically skip the whole resolution thing – I always feel like I’m setting myself up for a fall.)

So this year, I’m developing a simple plan. I’m focusing my attention on the practical – those things that I know can make a difference and are not so lofty that I can’t achieve. I’m starting with a simple three-step process using feng shui as my guide.

The first step is what I’m calling feng shui maintenance. What I mean by this is just this: fix what needs to be fixed. Doesn’t sound too sexy I know, but it can have a powerful impact on your life. Feng shui is based on the premise that our homes are extensions of ourselves – which as we look around and see the various objects and styles we’ve selected, makes sense.

When you take this premise a level or two deeper, as we do in feng shui, different aspects of our homes represent different aspects of our lives (e.g., career, relationships, prosperity, etc.), and even the systems (e.g., plumbing and electrical), appliances and various objects in the home can affect our quality of life because of what they represent.

For instance, some feng shui experts focus solely on health and how our homes can reflect our own physical well-being. Our plumbing for instance is more than just a complex set of pipes but a channel for our emotions. In feng shui, the water element represents our emotions, so when there is a block in our plumbing it can represent an emotional block we may be having in our lives. This doesn’t mean you won’t need a plumber if you address the emotional issue but it does show how our homes can be more than mundane physical structures.

Consider too the appliances in your kitchen – a place in your home that represents prosperity because this is where we bring, prepare and cook all our food (a symbol of abundance). If they are not in working order, this can have an effect on the food we serve. In feng shui, the stove represents the element of fire, which is a strong generator of energy or chi. If it is not working, you are limiting the amount of energy or support you need to attract greater abundance into your life.

The fixes don’t need to be big – sometimes it’s simply changing a light bulb (in feng shui, this adds chi to a space) or swapping out the batteries on your smoke detectors (creating a greater sense of security in your home) or adding salt to your water softener (are there some challenging emotional situations that could use a softer touch?).

Each of these fixes, even the small maintenance items, can add up to big changes in how you feel about your home. When these things no longer weigh on you, you can appreciate your home for what it offers and not what you have to do in it. And that’s the crux of it. How you feel about your home. You want to walk into your home feeling uplifted, welcomed and supported. This is good feng shui. Maintenance is a first key step.

Next time, I’ll cover Step 2: Clutter Clearing but right now, I have some light bulbs to change, and a table to wax, and some salt to purchase, oh and a dishwasher that needs repair.